Welcome back to Outdoorstype! Today we're on a special kind of hunt. We're kayaking up Broad Creek, near Adelaide, searching for the remnants of a forgotten tramway.
This wasn't your average tramway though. From 1904 to 1964, it hauled explosives from lighters and ketches docked on Broad Creek to the Dry Creek Explosives magazine. It was integral in serving South Australian industry, as well as the mines of Broken Hill.
I’m not an expert in this stuff, but I might be by the time I’m finished exploring. Let’s dig a little deeper, and fly a little higher, as we explore the old Dry Creek explosives tramway.
The archive images are courtesy of the NRM and State Library of South Australia and are used with permission.
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Secret History & Natural Beauty
Broad Creek is a fascinating area. It's a recovering mangrove forest, a haven for dolphins and birds, and... well, it used to be one of Adelaide's most polluted industrial sites back when raw sewage was dumped on the tidal flats nearby.
In this video, we'll explore what we can find of the old tramway, dig through historical records and photos, and bring this forgotten piece of Adelaide's history back to life.
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The Rise and Fall of the Explosives Tramway
The South Australian government played a big role in managing explosives for construction, mining, and even fireworks. They needed a safe and secure way to transport them, which is where the Broad Creek tramway comes in.
For a time, explosives arrived by ship and were transferred by ketch to a magazine much closer to Port Adelaide.
The Dry Creek magazine replaced the one at North Arm and a wharf with 2 foot tramway to the magazine was built to replace road transport in 1904. The flow of traffic began as water cargo coming in via Broad Creek, to eventually one of cargo arriving by rail at Dry Creek and being shipped in and out via another lasting symbol of the tramway, ‘The Cut’ at the northern end of Torrens Island. The last explosives were shipped from Broad Creek in 1970, and the jetty itself was demolished around 1976.
Interestingly, there was another tramway in the area! This one hauled shell grit from a point just north of St Kilda, and served the salt fields. Its path even crossed the explosives line at one point, though they never connected.
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Horsepower to Trucks: A Changing Landscape
AT WHARF - This old wharf was built in 1906 using an old hulk and its still here in some way, the jetty is gone…
The tramway faced many challenges. Floods frequently damaged the tracks, requiring constant repairs. But a bigger change was coming.
By the 1930s, road and rail transport became more efficient than water transport. This meant less explosives were shipped through Broad Creek.
By the mid-1940s, all explosives arrived by rail via Dry Creek, and the Broad Creek wharf started falling apart.
Meanwhile, the city of Adelaide was growing, and the tramway faced a new threat from encroaching development.
In 1964, safety concerns due to the encroachment of industry into the area led to the end of the horse-drawn tram. They were replaced by two specially made trucks, and the tramway tracks were pulled up and sold two years later.
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The End of an Era
By the 1970s, the decline of the tramway mirrored the decline of the explosives storage business itself. New technologies meant explosives were stored and prepared on-site, eliminating the need for the Dry Creek magazine.
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Walking the Tramway's Path
Today, we're walking along Henschke Street, the former route of the tramway leaving Dry Creek Station. The area is still industrial, but hopefully a far cry from its early 20th-century state.
The line curved north from here and ran along what is now Magazine Road. Magazine road used to be sewage fields - not exactly the most pleasant place for a tram ride!
These days the area is a reclamation site as the salt fields are now closed and the magazines are on private property. There’s been some redevelopment of wetlands in the area but it’s all still a bit grey, industrial and ugly out here.
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Outro
Thanks for joining me on this exploration of Dry Creek’s forgotten tramway! If you enjoyed the video, give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, and share it with your mates!
See you on the next adventure! Catch ya then.
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